The concept of bin aerators is old in the art as evidence by my U.S. Pat. No. 3,952,956, which discloses a bin aerator that has a deformable rubber housing for discharging air parallel to the walls of the bin. Generally, the bin aerators are periodically pulsed with a high pressure gas to discharge the gas into the pneumatic conveying system. At other times, gas may be continually discharged for an extended period of time. The resultant flow of gas around the deformable rubber housing dislodges the material adjacent the bin aerator. When the gas flow terminates, the deformable rubber housing collapses inwardly to seal off the gas passage and prevent backflow of material into the bin aerator.
In the present invention, an improved bin aerator incorporates a one-piece resilient domed member that has a sealing flap and multiple cantileverly held sealing lips that flex radially outward to allow gas to escape therefrom, but seal and seat themselves against a sealing surface when the gas pressure on the outside of the bin aerator is greater than the pressure on the inside of the bin aerator, thus preventing the backflow of gasses. The bin aerator is particularly suitable for use with abrasive materials, as the gas discharged from the bin aerator follows the angled sealing surface and is directed away from the wall of a pneumatic conveying device to thereby reduce abrasion caused by entrained particles. Also, the sealing lips are maintained in sufficiently strong pressure contact with a sealing surface so that as the scaling lips wear during use, the resilient member can still maintain an effective seal against the sealing surface. In addition, the bin aerator includes a housing that can be quickly mounted into a bin extension.